ARA-C01 Question 146
Single answerSnowflake MarketplaceA data provider wants to commercialize a reference dataset through Snowflake Marketplace. The dataset is refreshed daily in the provider account and contains a mix of public attributes and a few columns that should only be visible to premium consumers. The provider wants to avoid copying data into separate databases for each tier and wants consumers to query the data in their own accounts with minimal operational overhead. Which approach best meets these requirements?
- A
Create separate physical tables for standard and premium tiers, replicate both databases to every target region manually, and share each database directly with consumers instead of using listings.
- B
Publish a Marketplace listing backed by a secure share, and use secure views to expose different column sets for standard and premium offerings without duplicating the underlying tables.
- C
Export the dataset daily to external cloud storage, ask consumers to load it into their own accounts, and use masking policies in the consumer accounts to hide premium columns.
- D
Use a single Marketplace listing backed by a database role granted to all consumers, because database roles can dynamically filter columns per consumer without separate views or offers.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
The best answer is to use a Snowflake Marketplace listing backed by a secure share and expose different tiers through secure views over the same base tables. This leverages Snowflake's zero-copy sharing model so consumers can query provider data from their own accounts without the provider creating per-consumer copies. Secure views are a best practice when the provider needs to limit rows or columns exposed to different audiences while protecting the underlying logic and structures. For commercialization and broad distribution, Marketplace listings are preferred over ad hoc direct sharing. Snowflake documentation on Secure Data Sharing, Secure Views, and Snowflake Marketplace supports this pattern: providers share data objects through secure shares and can use secure views to control what consumers see, enabling reusable tiered offerings with low operational overhead.
- A. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Creating separate physical tables for each subscription tier increases storage and maintenance overhead and contradicts the requirement to avoid copying data into separate databases for each tier. Direct shares are valid for data sharing, but Snowflake Marketplace listings are the appropriate distribution mechanism for discoverability and commercialization. Manual replication to every target region is also not the best fit for minimizing operational overhead.
- B. Correct.
Correct. Snowflake Marketplace listings are typically backed by secure shares, allowing consumers to access shared data in their own Snowflake accounts without copying the data. Secure views are the recommended way to present filtered or transformed subsets of the same underlying tables, including exposing different columns for different offerings such as standard versus premium. This approach aligns with least operational overhead and avoids duplicating data while supporting tiered access patterns through separate listings/offers as needed.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Exporting data to cloud storage and requiring consumers to reload it defeats one of the main benefits of Snowflake Marketplace: seamless in-place data access via Snowflake sharing. In addition, the provider cannot rely on consumer-managed masking policies to enforce the provider's premium-column restrictions, since governance of provider data exposure should be controlled by the provider before sharing.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Database roles can be used to manage object access within a shared database, but they do not by themselves dynamically apply column-level filtering per consumer in a single shared object. To expose different column sets safely, providers typically use secure views and package the correct objects into listings/offers. A single database role granted to all consumers would not satisfy differentiated standard versus premium visibility requirements.